Last Of The Joeville Lovers. Anne Eames

and looked over at her.

      “Don’t look so worried. I’m fast, but I’m safe.”

      She bit her tongue and rolled her eyes. She wanted to say she’d heard that about him from too many coeds, and also at the hospital where she and Max worked when they weren’t at the clinic, but she decided now wasn’t the time.

      Without waiting for a response, he threw the gearshift into reverse, spun into a half circle and sent gravel spitting in all directions as he barreled down the drive to the main gate and cut sharply onto the road heading north toward his hangar. Taylor gritted her teeth and clung to the armrest, telling herself speed was imperative, and that the roads were dry and safe.

      Whatever anxiety she’d felt escalated when they stepped into Josh’s small Cessna and then taxied to the short grassy runway. She wanted to ask him how long he’d been doing this, but decided it was too late and she really didn’t want to know.

      The takeoff was smooth and uneventful, and she started to relax. If her mind wasn’t elsewhere, she would have enjoyed the mountains on the horizon and the patchwork fields of vivid color below. It was a beautiful day in May by anyone’s standards. The sun shone bright in the awesome big skies she’d come to love. On a wistful sigh she remembered that when she was a little girl in Ann Arbor this was just the kind of day her mother had described. It was Mom’s stories of her own youth, growing up in Montana and getting her nursing degree from Montana State, that had compelled Taylor to enroll at her mother’s alma mater and see for herself the grandeur of this magnificent part of the country.

      Taylor leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Mom had been right. It was gorgeous out here. But at times like this, she wished Michigan wasn’t so far away.

      Please, God, give Mama the strength to hold on.

      She felt a tear trickle down her cheek, and she dug for a tissue in her purse, wiping her face quickly and blowing her nose.

      “I hope everything works out okay,” Josh said.

      She wadded the tissue and shoved it into her jeans pocket, realizing for the first time that she still wore her white jacket from the clinic. “Me, too,” she said, and shrugged out of it.

      “Would you like some music? I have tapes and headphones.” He half shouted over the steady roar of the engine.

      She eyed him curiously, surprised at his suddenly somber demeanor. “No, but thank you,” she said after a moment. He looked distracted by private thoughts and she wondered where he was.

      “Has your mom been sick for a while?” Josh glanced over, then back to the vast blue sky.

      She wished he would stop talking. She wasn’t in the mood for idle chatter. Still, she was indebted to him for his help, so she answered him with as few words as possible. “Mom was in an auto accident when I was in nursery school. Got pretty banged up. Broke one arm and leg...and lost a kidney. She was in the hospital a long time and then physical therapy after that.”

      “Is that how you became interested in PT?”

      “Yeah, I guess it was.” She exhaled loudly, deciding to mollify him and hoping a little conversation might pass time. She felt a slow smile curve her lips as she thought more about his question. “I remember playing nurse with my dolls. I was so proud of Mom and loved to see her in those white uniforms. But after helping her with her exercises when she got home... well, I saw how much it made a difference. She recovered completely and was able to return to work. I thought—” she felt the lump at the back of her throat again “—I hoped it would never come to this, though.”

      “This?”

      “She’s in renal failure... the other kidney—” She turned back to the side window and swallowed hard.

      “Is she a candidate for a transplant?”

      “She’s on the list, but the timing...” Taylor heaved a sigh and decided to tell Josh what was really on her mind. Maybe saying it out loud would give her more confidence. “If there isn’t a donor by the time I get there, I’m giving Mom one of mine.”

      She glanced at him, half expecting him to argue the dangers. His jaw muscles knotted and he didn’t comment for the longest time. Then he said, “I wish I could’ve done something to help my mother.”

      Taylor stared at him, waiting for more, but nothing came. It was common knowledge at the hospital that Max was widowed, yet she’d never been sure what had happened. How could Josh have helped her? There had been gossip about a possible suicide, but no one seemed certain. It had occurred years before her arrival on campus, and Dr. Max Malone wasn’t one to provide grist for the rumor mill. His private life was just that.

      Whether in the classroom or seeing to patients at the hospital or his home clinic, Max was all business. He had a tender and caring heart, but beyond that, he was pretty tight-lipped. If Mom hadn’t told her stories of the techniques he’d pioneered in orthopedic surgery at the University of Michigan Hospital, Taylor might never have known what a remarkable doctor he was. She’d been truly lucky to have such a man as her mentor.

      Suddenly Josh pasted on a toothy smile and looked her way, putting aside whatever had been churning behind his troubled blue-gray eyes. “You’re a brave woman, Taylor Phillips.”

      She chuckled softly. “I don’t know about that. I try not to think of the surgery and afterward. I just know I have to do something.” He winked at her in that roguish way of his and returned his attention to the skies ahead, falling silent once again.

      Why did he play these constant games? For a while she’d thought she’d seen a glimpse of the real man, but the curtain had closed. Once again he took on the air of a carefree playboy and she felt a wave of disappointment, not certain why. Curious, she studied his sun-streaked sandy hair, which hung carelessly over the collar of his aviator jacket, and she wondered if he worked at this unruly look or if it came naturally with his behavior.

      He banked the plane unexpectedly, and she jerked against her seat belt. Annoyed she turned her head and muttered caustically under her breath. “Fast with cars, planes and women. What a man!”

      “Excuse me?”

      “Nothing. I—” The single engine sputtered and the nose dipped radically. She gripped her armrests. “What was that?”

      He leveled the plane, seeming unconcerned. “She’s an old plane. Don’t worry about it. Everything’s okay.”

      She spotted the airport just ahead and wished they were on the ground safely.

      “Next time I take you for a ride, I’ll have my new plane and you won’t look so worried.”

      She crossed her arms and tried to relax, glad the engine noise had returned to normal and that they had begun their descent.

      A new plane, she thought. Must be nice. Here she would be paying on student loans well into the twenty-first century, and this guy’s talking about buying a plane as if it were no bigger deal than a pair of boots. She’d been right to think he was a self-centered, spoiled—

      “Will you call and let us know how your mom is doing?”

      Taylor stared at him a moment. Who was this man? And why was she even wasting time trying to figure him out?

      Josh glanced over when she didn’t answer.

      “Y-yes. Sure.” She closed her mouth and watched the smooth landing, shrugging all thoughts of Joshua Malone from her head and worrying once again about the days ahead.

      She would make her plane without a problem. If only there wasn’t a layover in Minneapolis—it would take at least another seven hours until she reached her mother’s side.

      Please, God. Don’t let me be too late.

      

      Josh helped her down the steps and carried her bags across the tarmac to the terminal. Taylor seemed a million miles away and he understood. He wished he could think